5 Things I Learned from Failing on Kickstarter

The Project

My Kickstarter campaign ABSTRACT NATURE ended last night at midnight. I did not reach my funding goal of $2500. A polite, but brief email from Kickstarter informed me this morning. I was not surprised, I was watching my campaign daily for the last 30 days. I started my campaign on Kickstarter to try to off-set the costs of printing and exhibiting 11 large format images. In truth, I had the images printed before I started with Kickstarter. I wanted to see what was possible, how Kickstarter worked. Here is what I have learned from failing...

1. Many companies exist to help promote your project. Within minutes of launching my project my inbox started to fill up with offers to help me reach my goals. PR, press releases, custom websites, Twitter campaigns, social media everything...Prices ranged from $5- $500 for the services. I was not expecting such a flurry of solicitation.

2. Crowdfunding is a great way to re-connect. After I launched my project I started to reach out to everyone I know to tell them about what I was doing. (also read ask for help) I wrote to old friends, colleagues, family, and so on. Many dropped conversations started again.

3. Free Marketing / Advertising. Kickstarter exposed me, and my work to a lot of people I would not normally have access to. People contacted me directly after seeing my project on the Kickstarter website. My website traffic increased. New friend requests on Facebook, follows on Twitter, and other social media engagement. Print sales on my website grew 700% during the time of my campaign.

4. Say and do are not the same. People want to help, but not everyone comes through on their word. I understand, people are busy, life goes on. False promise creates false hope. Let it go and remember to smile.

5. You need to reach people outside of your network. Thirty days is a long time to keep showing the same people various versions of the same message. People tune out, i do. Getting your project in front of new people on a regular basis is the true challenge of crowd funding. I believe that without it you will not succeed. *Refer to number 1.

Here are a few links to companies that can help you achieve your goals: